UNL wheat breeder Stephen Baenziger presents the results of the wheat variety trial during the 2011 High Plains Ag Lab Field Day. Baenziger will return this year as a guest speaker at the June 21 field day at Sidney.

June 6, 2012

The UNL High Plains Ag Lab at Sidney will host a field day June 21 with public tours of its research plots. The event will begin at 8:30 a.m. with registration and refreshments and continue at 8:45 a.m. with welcomes from Alton Lerwick, chair of the HPAL Advisory Board, and Linda Boeckner, director of UNL’s Panhandle Research and Extension Center.

The field tour of research plots will begin at 9 a.m. and include the following studies and speakers:

• Forage quality and yield of cool- and warm-season grasses, Gary Hergert, extension nutrient management and soil quality specialist, Panhandle REC
   
• Winter canola and fenugreek, Dipak Santra, extension alternative crops specialist, Panhandle REC
   
• Cover crop cocktails and water use, Drew Lyon, extension dryland cropping systems specialist, Panhandle REC
   
• Benefits of dung beetles in rangeland, Sean Whipple, research associate, Panhandle REC
   
• Grazing forage cocktails, Alex Titlow, graduate student, Department of Animal Science, Lincoln
   
• Winter wheat varieties, Stephen Baenziger, professor and small grain breeding specialist, Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, Lincoln
   
• Management options for the wheat stem sawfly, Jeff Bradshaw, extension entomologist, Panhandle REC

Immediately following the field day will be an optional tour of the HPAL organic winter wheat variety plots.